Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2002
From: Take the Capital!
A Call to Action Against the G8 - Ottawa, June 26-27

"TAKE THE CAPITAL!"
A CALL TO ACTION AGAINST THE G8OTTAWA, CANADUH -- JUNE 26-27, 2002

This coming June 26-27, the executive board of global capitalism is retreating to the foothills of Alberta, Canada. Jean Chretien, George W. Bush, Tony Blair and the other so-called leaders of the industrialized world continue planning for war at home and abroad, surrounded by pristine wilderness, putting greens, and thousands of police and soldiers.

The self-serving "war on terrorism", orchestrated by the leaders of the G8, continues to militarize and brutalize the world, while cynically making appeals to civilization and freedom. From Afghanistan to Colombia, from the Philippines to Somalia, Western powers continue to exercise their self-proclaimed right to dominate and determine the destiny of the global South at an ever more accelerated pace.

The war also continues at home. All levels of government, in particular the far-right governments in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, unabashedly pursue economic policies at the service of big business, contributing to poverty, environmental destruction, social service cutbacks and more. Their arsenal ranges from privatization schemes to well-armed tactical police units. The agenda of capitalist globalization -- embodied by institutions and treaties like the IMF, World Bank, WTO, NAFTA, FTAA and G8 -- is the relentless transfer of power and wealth to the economic and political elites of Canada.

In particular, the war at home includes the scapegoating and attacks on immigrant and refugee communities, as well as so-called "anti-terrorist" laws that are nothing but a judicial assault on civil rights and political organizing, with clear racist implications.

Last July, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Genoa, Italy against the G8, and were met with state-sponsored police brutality that included the murder of activist Carlo Giuliani. The Genoa protests were accompanied by protests worldwide in opposition to the agenda of the G8.

The global uprising is led by grassroots movements in the global South. The recent popular rebellions in Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia stand out as inspiring and empowering examples and models of resistance to imperialism and capitalism, in the face of violent day-to-day state repression.

And so, in clear opposition to the G8, in solidarity with protests in Alberta and worldwide, and in ongoing support of local and regional grassroots social justice efforts, activists from Ontario and Quebec are making a call for two days of action in Ottawa -- Canada's national capital -- on June 26-27, 2002.

We invite all organizations, affinity groups and individuals in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes and the Northeastern United States to join the mobilizing, organizing and awareness-raising efforts for the days of action in Ottawa.

The two days of protest will involve demonstrations of all kinds, popular education, civil disobedience and direct action, targeting the many manifestations of political and economic power of the national capital. We are organizing on the basis of a respect for a diversity of tactics, meaning manifold forms of resistance in mutual solidarity and respect, while aiming to ensure the safety and defense of all participants.

If your affinity group or organization endorses the callout above, please let us know.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED!
HOW TO GET INVOVLED!
HOW TO GET INVOLVED!

"TAKE THE CAPITAL"
OTTAWA ACTIONS AGAINST THE G8June 26-27, 2002

REGIONAL ORGANIZING MEETINGS, CONSULTA AND SPOKESCOUNCILS

Between now and June, there will be several regional organizing meetings for the Take the Capital! actions in Ottawa. These meetings will permit committees to report-back on their work, and also allow all affinity groups and individuals to participate in decision-making. The organizing meetings, consulta and spokescouncils will be based on the organizing and political principles that are included below.

The next regional organizing meeting will take place in Ottawa on APRIL 7, 2002 from 11am to 4pm. If you want to get involved, or to confirm your participation, please e-mail takethecapital@tao.ca or phone 613-788-3310. The location is tba.

Travel subsidies are available to facilitate broad participation, especially from low-income and marginalized individuals and groups. To ask for a subsidy, just e-mail takethecapital@tao.ca or phone 613-788-3310.

The other main regional meetings until June have been scheduled. They are:

There might be other regional meetings or spokescouncils, but they will be scheduled at other meetings and spokescouncils.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEES AND SUBGROUPS

Several committees and subgroups have been formed for the Take the Capital Action. The main logisitics committees include:

Housing, Food, Welcome Center, Legal, Medical

All the above committees will be Ottawa-based. To get involved, please contact ottawa-anti-capitalist@riseup.net or phone 613-788-3310. While these committees will be Ottawa-based, they require help from outside the city, especially for Food, Legal and Medical. Don't hesitate to get in touch with offers of help.

To get involved with the above committees, e-mail takethecapital@tao.ca or phone 613-788-3310. Please note that some of the above committees will also be organized locally by local contact groups and individuals (see next section).

There are also several subgroups that are organizing autonomously, but are linked to the Take the Capital actions on June 26-27 in Ottawa. The subgroups include:

LOCAL ORGANIZING AND CONTACTS

There are several active groups and individuals throughout the region that are actively involved in mobilizing for the Take the Capital actions on June 26-27. Many tasks like outreach, fundraising and agitprop are being organized on a local leval. Please e-mail takethecapital@tao.ca or phone 613-788-3310 for contacts. There are currently organizing contacts in the following cities and towns:

organizing in a non-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian fashion, as well as within the framework of anti-oppression analysis and action.

In addition to the political and organizing principles outlined above, the organizers of the Ottawa Consulta and Regional Assembly have adopted the hallmarks of the Peoples' Global Action (PGA) network (as modified and accepted at Cochabamba, Bolivia in September 2001):

A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalisation.

We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings.

A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker;

A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.

Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2002
Kananaskis Solidarity Village, June 21-28

DEFY THE G8, COME TO KANANASKIS
June 21 to 28, 2002

The G8 meeting in Kananaskis, Alberta June 26-27, 2002 presents a challenge to social movements around the world. This summit of the dominant economies of the world strives to present the G8 vision of the world as one of development and democracy. In fact, it represents an agenda of corporate globalization, which results in the social exclusion of growing millions of people, systemic global poverty, and the degradation of the natural environment, supported by escalating international militarism.

Civil society in Alberta is mobilizing to confront the G8 and present an alternative vision to corporate globalization. We invite people across the country and around the world to join with us in building a festival of resistance to the G8 in Kananaskis.

Solidarity Village will be a microcosm of the possible - a place where we can strategize, tell stories, share regional issues; build long-term coalitions; demonstrate living alternatives to capitalism and teach each other new ways to manifest dissent.

Solidarity Village will provide a setting for education, teach-ins, and workshops, and celebrate art, music, and drama as an integral part of building a global popular movement. It will provide a space for convergence, medical and legal aid, independent media, and other support to individuals and groups participating in direct action. It will strive to create a collective, inclusive and diverse space that respects human safety, the environment, and the First Nations people, who have invited us to their land.

Solidarity Village will grow out of the foothills near the summit site of Kananaskis Village. Workshops and training will begin on summer solstice, June 21, and the camp will build to its height the days of the G8 Summit, June 26 and 27.

The Village will be a collective vision, and we call on individuals and groups to participate in the camp by organizing workshops, coordinating tents, creating art and music, providing resources, assisting with logistics, or by mobilizing your community to come to Alberta to challenge the G8 with Albertans. We also call on people to act in solidarity with us in Kananaskis by resisting the G8 in their communities, their regions, and their countries.

Caravan Proposal for the G8
Road slow-downs for the G8 in June.
posted by Caravanistas on Saturday March 09 2002

A group of activists from across the north-east of North America are organizing a co-ordinated, decentralized action of simultaneous high-way slow downs to build and make more effective the demonstrations against the G8 in June of 2002. We are building the networks and setting the stage for eventual immovable highway blockades, the weapons of the poor and the stranglers of national economies so popular and effective throughout South America.

We envisage three, perhaps six or more, separate slow roving caravans crippling the arteries of trade between Windsor and Montreal, the NAFTA free-trade corridor. The beauty of the decentralized actions would be that the direction of the caravans along the 401 can be left undisclosed until departure allowing much less time for the State to prepare a response.

West of Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph could band together to shut a section of the 401. Activists from Guelph have experience with blockades of this type, participating in the Anti-FTAA Border Caravan.

Toronto and surrounding region could choose a critical artery through their fine city, and as was witnessed at the October 16 Ontario Common Front action where 7 vehicles blocked 5 lanes of traffic, paralyzing commercial traffic can be no longer a just metaphor.

Kingston, Ottawa and Montreal could play the third group, with London and Windsor being a possible fourth, Sudbury a fifth, and a sixth from South of the border. Perhaps regions that cannot amass the numbers of people or vehicles needed could shut down nearby freight rail lines.

There is a need for vehicles and people willing to put them in some degree of risk. We realize this particular action is not one accessible to all. But that is both a weakness and a strength. The caravans we've been involved with have been able to seat everybody who wished to participate and who were without their own vehicle.

We have been successful drawing older, more liberal participants to these direct actions. This perhaps is because they are not obviously "illegal". Cars slow themselves to the minimum legal speed limit, cutting in half actual speed traveled by most commercial vehicles. The "visuals" for the media are less confrontational, looking like any other traffic jam, but their effectiveness at seizing commercial traffic cannot be argued.

Accustomizing people previously unfamiliar with direct action is an important benefit of this type of action. Disseminating the idea that slowing down all traffic any time, is not only ok, but necessary, is a critical step in disseminating the idea that bringing it all to a dead stop is also ok and necessary.

Hundreds of truckers, who haven't stopped in Gananoque since Highway 2 was replaced by the 401, spent the day and evening of the anti-FTAA border caravan holed up in Gananoque, because of the traffic disruption.

In an era of "just in time" deliveries and goods already slowed at the border, by the security crazed border officials, the free market depends on clear and open roads. Our lives and the lives of billions of people around the world depend on resisting the G8 and the corporate powers that control the 'free market'.

We propose that 3 or more caravans disrupt commercial arteries of traffic Wednesday June 26, before the start of the G8 meeting in Kananaskis. This leave time to attend the action in Ottawa and allows two more days of possible highway disruption after the blockades are a smashing success (truck traffic is heavier during the week).

Our proposal is of course, just that. It is our expectation it will change and evolve. We would like to have a "Caravan Caravan" and visit the communities taking part, to share our experiences. This could be in early June allowing some time for building the campaign idea and putting together participants before meeting with us, and enough time afterwards to build and modify the action to suit each communities own needs.

EVERYONE, WHEREVER YOUR DESTINATION IS CAN CLOG THE ARTERIES OF TRADE.

Rights Action is honored to announce this "On the Road to Kananaskis" tour, from Toronto to Calgary/Edmonton, Alberta, before the annual meeting of the G8 countries that will take place in Kananaskis Park, one hour west of Calgary.

[There is a second tour going up the west coast of the USA - to Calgary/ Edmonton]

EDUCATION & ACTIVIST TOUR - Cross Canada

Across Canada, indigenous activists from Chiapas and Honduras will travel (from Toronto to Calgary) with a Rights Action activist, making presentations in Native communities, towns and cities along the way. The tour will provide an opportunity for Canadians to learn for struggles in the global south concerning issues of impoverishment, discrimination and repression, and it will provide aboriginal people of Canada the opportunity to hear about struggles similar to their own -- for justice, land rights and equality -- in other countries. At the same time, our southern visitors will learn more about the growing resistance in the north to the unjust global order, and about the life and struggles of Native Canadians.

This education-activist tour will culminate in Calgary, Alberta June 21-27, where our speakers will participate in education and activist events before and during the annual meeting of the G8 nations in Kananaskis Park.

?? ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ORGANIZING PUBLIC EVENTS FOR OUR SPEAKERS ??

Please contact: info@rightsaction.org, Tel: 416-654-2074.

[*** For information about the second tour, going up the west coast of the USA - to Calgary/ Edmonton, contact Sue Kuyper: G8tour@hotmail.com, [502 - country code in Guatemala] 232-9414 ***]

--- PLEASE RE-DISTRIBUTE & SHARE THIS INFORMATION ---

ELITIST G8 GATHERING

On June 26 & 27, 2002, the leaders of the world's 8 richest and most powerful countries, the Group of 8 ("G8"), will meet in Kananaskis, Alberta. The global "free market" economic order is controlled and kept in place by, and benefits the "G8" countries in general, and more specifically certain political-economic interests within these countries -- as well as benefiting the economic interests of elite sectors in countries of the global south.

Through "free trade" agreements and inter-government institutions (International Monetary Fund, Inter-American Development Bank, World Trade Organization, Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, World Bank, etc.), the G8 countries work to keep in place an unjust economic model that is an extension and growth upon unjust colonial and neo-colonial economic policies which have been maintained, over generations, through repression.

The effects of those economic and military policies can be clearly seen in Chiapas (southern most State in Mexico) and Honduras where indigenous people and campesinos have resisted discrimination, exploitation and repression for hundreds of years.

=== NORTHEAST ANTI-G8 ROADSHOW AND CARAVAN ===From Quebec City to New York, Toronto to Ottawa

Between April 2 to April 17, activists from Quebec, Ontario and Alberta will be taking to the road in a three-week caravan against the G8. The caravan will be linking with community groups and local activists in the Northeast region. In addition to information about the G8, and the regional mobilization in Ottawa on June 26-27 ("Take the Capital!"), the caravan will be presenting info about a wide range of topics, from the Common Front Campaign against the Tory government in Ontario, to the Peoples' Global Action (PGA) international network of resistance, to the planning for resistance in Alberta in June.

The caravan and roadshow will include evening panels with local activists and organizers. Workshops on a variety of topics -- such as the G8 and anti-oppression organizing -- will also be part of the caravan at afternoon events.

In addition to formal events, the Caravan is also producing a radio documentary (The Roots of Resistance) and a larger article and zine, involving interviews with dozens of community organizers throughout the Northeast. We are aiming to interview those people involved in day-to-day grassroots community organizing away from the spectacle of large-scale protests.

A caravan schedule, list of participants, as well as the organizing and political principles of the roadshow are included below. Specific details about local events and workshops will be posted in future caravan announcements.

We are soliciting your help to make this caravan as effective as possible:

If you have contacts with local groups and activists for the radio documentary project -- the Roots of Resistance -- please pass them on.

Caravan participants are also interested in meeting with local groups and individuals on an informal basis.

If you have any information -- pamphlets, callouts, urgent actions, posters, etc -- that you would like distributed thru the caravan info table, get in touch.

If you can help the Caravan meet its expenses (gas, van rental and food) with a donation, please let us know.

For more information, or to help, please contact us at 514-844-1994 or clac@tao.ca.

=== CARAVAN SCHEDULE ===

April 2: Quebec City
April 3: Ottawa
April 4: Montreal
April 5: Toronto
April 8: Toronto/Hamilton
April 9: Peterborough
April 10: Kingston
April 11: Kitchener-Waterloo
April 12: Guelph
April 15: New York City
April 16: Boston
April 17: Amherst, Massachusetts

[Note: If you would like a visit by the anti-G8 Caravan and Roadshow to your area, please get in touch at clac@tao.ca. More visits are possible later in April or in early May. A second caravan, covering locations all over Quebec, is currently in the planning stages.]

=== CARAVAN PARTICIPANTS ===

[The participants below will all be involved with panels, workshops, interviews and other aspects of the caravan. Not all members of the caravan will be speaking at every event, and local activists and organizations will be an integral part of the Caravan at each stop.]

Fiona -- Fiona is a student in international education and an activist based in Edmonton, Alberta. She works with The People's Action Network (FTAA), Citizens for Peaceful Communities (police-monitoring), Ecocity, and is involved with local anti-G8 organizing.

Stefan -- Stefan is an activist, musician and artist living in Montreal. He is a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) and also an audio activist with CKUT community radio. He has also been active in planning and organizing the Howl Festival of Art & Revolution in Montreal, Toronto, New York City and Halifax.

Lisa -- Lisa is an activist and community organizer who has been involved in supporting people with developmental disabilities in Kitchener-Waterloo and Ottawa where she now lives and works. She has recently been very active in local anti-oppression work, as well as coalition building against the FTAA and G20 in Ottawa.

Andréa -- Andréa lives in Montreal, where she is a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) and Action montréalaise contre la guerre, l'impérialisme et le racisme (AGIR). Andréa is also a facilitator with the Montreal Direct Action Workshop.

Marika -- Marika is an activist and performer based in Edmonton, Alberta, where she is active on many projects including indymedia, community radio, police monitoring and health care struggles. Marika is organising on many levels to mobilise against the G8.

Jaggi -- Jaggi is a writer and activist based in Montreal. He is a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), as well as the anti-war group AGIR (Action Against War, Imperialism and Racism). He is also a member of the Alternative Bookshop collective in Montreal.

Shannon -- Shannon is an Ottawa activist. She has been active in local mobilizing against the FTAA and G8, anti-biotech activism, and supporting survivors of sexual violence/women living on the street. Shannon grew up off-reserve on Lake Muskoka with her mixed Ojibwe/Euro-immigrant family.

=== ORGANIZING AND POLITICAL PRINCIPLES ===

The Caravan is being undertaken on the basis of the organizing and political principles of the recent Ottawa Consulta against the G8, as well as the hallmarks of the Peoples' Global Action (PGA) network. Those principles are: see below!

For more information, please contact us at 514-844-1994 or clac@tao.ca.

"On the Road to Kananaskis" Educational & Activist Speaking Tour

Western USA -- June 2002

Rights Action is honored to announce this "On the Road to Kananaskis" tour, from California north, ending in Calgary/ Edmonton, Alberta, before and during the annual meeting of the G8 countries to take place in Kananaskis Park, one hour west of Calgary.

[There is a second tour going across Canada, from Toronto - Calgary/ Edmonton]

EDUCATION & ACTIVIST TOUR - Western USA

From California, through Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana - then north to Calgary/ Edmonton --, two youth-barrio activists from Guatemala City and San Salvador will travel with a Rights Action activist. The tour will provide an opportunity for US and Canadian citizens to learn of urban youth organizing concerning human rights, state violence and community displacement in Central America, while our southern visitors will learn more about the growing resistance in the north to the unjust global order as well as human rights and justice struggles in the US and Canada.

This education-activist tour will culminate in Calgary, Alberta June 21-27, where our speakers will participate in education and activist events before and during the annual meeting of the G8 nations in Kananaskis Park.

[*** For information about the second tour, going across Canada, from Toronto - Calgary/ Edmonton, contact: info@rightsaction.org. 416-654-2074 ***]

--- PLEASE RE-DISTRIBUTE & SHARE THIS INFORMATION ---

ELITIST G8 GATHERING

On June 26 & 27, 2002, the leaders of the world's 8 richest and most powerful countries, the Group of 8 ("G8"), will meet in Kananaskis, Alberta. The global "free market" economic order is controlled and kept in place by, and benefits the "G8" countries in general, and more specifically certain political-economic interests within these countries -- as well as benefiting the economic interests of elite sectors in countries of the global south.

Through "free trade" agreements and inter-government institutions (International Monetary Fund, Inter-American Development Bank, World Trade Organization, Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, World Bank, etc.), the G8 countries work to keep in place an unjust economic model that is an extension and growth upon unjust colonial and neo-colonial economic policies which have been maintained, over generations, through repression.

The effects of those economic and military policies can be clearly seen in Guatemala and El Salvador, where popular organizations, campesinos and indigenous people have resisted discrimination, exploitation and repression for generations.

They say that if you gave a thousand monkeys a thousand typewriters at some point you'd have yourself a novel. I was wondering if you gave a thousand monkeys a thousand sticks of dynamite how long would it take for them to make the city a more beautiful looking place.